Severing Bonds
by Rumiglion
Summary: *Spoilers for Turn 21* V.V. tries to kill Marianne... but he fails. However, fate found a way to take away the Queen's life anyways. An alternate look into Marianne's death and the consequences it has. Beware OOC-ness. *One-shot*


Well, this is just a little idea that I got since watching Marianne's death in Turn 21. If you don't like reading fanfics that takes a serious moment and completely ruins it, I suggest you to not read this and if you do, don't' flame me for doing that, because I warned you.

Also, just a note, I'm not trying to flame any characters. I love all canon characters portrayed in this fic. Except Marianne, but I don't hate her either. I kind of feel guilty about deciding to write this now… but… what the heck, here goes nothing:

**Disclaimer: Code Geass is owned by people that are not me.

* * *

**

A dealer of illegal arms went into the shady backstreets to see a small figure staring at a dead end. The figure turned to reveal a long haired girl… boy… kid.

"I trust that you have the product that I request?" The ambiguously gendered kid asked in a voice that either hasn't dropped or will never drop. The dealer may never know.

"I don't think that you're really qualified to handle it…" The man said hesitantly. Although he was used to seeing plenty of shady clients in his time, this was the first time he's seen someone who was so obviously underage. "I don't think someone your age can handle a machine-gu-"

"Oh, come on, you're supposed to be an illegal arms dealer. Just give me the gun and I'll prove to you that I can use it. I already paid you in advance, what kind of heartless monster would just take a kid's money and leave him dangling?" The dealer mentally noted to himself that the kid was indeed a boy and remembered that the money was double the price that he asked for.

"Well, fine." The dealer handed the kid a box, but then felt something in his pockets vibrate. "Hang on, let me get the phone."

The businessman turned the other way and got out his phone. "Hello? Yeah, I'm in a business meeting right now. Sure, I'll call you later. Love you, bye. Now where were w-" However, when he turned around, both the customer and the merchandise were gone. He blinked and then looked around in surprise. "Well, good thing he already paid in advance."

* * *

This was V.V.'s first experience handling firearms. Now would have been a good time to practice, however, the blond immortal was preoccupied with much more important matters for a rehearsal. V.V. was in front of a computer, his fingers clacked against the keyboard rapidly and he moved the mouse dramatically, clicking every nanosecond.

V.V.'s eyes were constantly moving, as if trying to capture every single pixel on the screen. Sweat oozed out of every pore in his body. He took a slight break to get out a handkerchief and wipe away the sweat in his brows before continuing.

"Come on… come on… Almost got it. I just need a bit more until…" V.V. continued to click away madly, the computer screen being the only source of light that illuminated his face. "YES! I LEVELED UP!" V.V. shouted victoriously before turning off the computer.

"Well, I better go and meet Marianne now."

* * *

The moonlight illuminated the steps from outside the window as Marianne descended in her orange dress. "What's this urgent business you spoke of?" The sword of the empire descended the steps and stopped when she stood directly in front of V.V. The immortal boy had his face turned towards the window, looking at the glowing moon. "I dismissed all the guards so that they wouldn't see you. If this is about the Sword of Aka-"

"No, it's not about that." V.V. turned to face Marianne. "It's about Charles. Ever since he met you, he's been beginning to change. He's been trying to impress you by changing completely. At first, I thought it was a good thing. He started to shave, comb, shower, clean up after himself, he even wore started pants around the house!"

"Well, I don't see what you have to complain about." Marianne said impatiently.

"Let me finish! Anyways, however, Charles has been growing more distant. He's been too busy with you, he started losing interest in things he enjoyed, he even sniffles called some of our brotherly bonding interests immature." V.V. turned away from Marianne and began wiping his eyes with his arms.

"V.V…. are you… crying?" Marianne asked out of shock at the sudden outburst from the young boy.

"Of course not! Sniffles I'm Charles's older… sniffles brother." V.V. turned back to face Marianne. "Anyways, I want you to stop trying to force Charles into being something that he's not. He's in love with you so much, he might even drop our contract if you told him, given more time."

"Well, what do you expect me to do? In my opinion, Charles has grown to be a better man than he was before. You may think you know what's better for him, but you're just a kid." Marianne lectured V.V. as if she was talking to a child.

"It's because of this attitude that everyone's attitude towards me has been changing! At this rate, I'll be the only person left." V.V. reached into his robes. "I was hoping that you'd be more cooperative, but it looks like I'll have to resort to this. TIME TO DIE!"

V.V. reached into his cape and drew a sub machine-gun. Marianne, seeing the weapon, quickly raised her arms up to defend herself and closed her eyes in surprise. A click is heard, but Marianne didn't hear any shots being fired. She opened her eyes to find blond child staring into the barrel with the other eye closed while trying to pull the trigger.

"Damn gun didn't come with any bullets…" V.V. mumbled silently to himself, but Marianne heard as well.

"Well, boys your age shouldn't get too involved in adult matters like this."

"I HATE YOU! Sniffles Everything is your fault!" The immortal threw the gun at Marianne and ran out the door crying. The gun hit Marianne on the forehead, knocking the revered knight unconscious.

* * *

"Marianne? Marianne, are you alright?" Marianne opened her eyes to see something green in front of her. After a few seconds refocusing, she was able to see clearly again and found C.C. "I saw V.V. running from here a few minutes ago and thought that you might be in trouble. Was V.V. crying?"

"How long have I been knocked out?" Marianne asked when she noticed that it was almost morning. Marianne rubbed her head and the green-haired witch noticed the weapon next to Marianne. She stared at Marianne. "V.V. tried to kill me with that, but it didn't have any bullets so he tossed it at me before running. If anyone finds out about this, I'll be a laughingstock. I'm supposed to be Marianne of the Flash, one of the strongest Knights for the Britannian Emperor. How's everyone going to react when they find out I was taken out by someone half my size that couldn't even use a weapon properly managed to knock me out?"

"Don't make a big deal out of it, Marianne, no one saw that. I don't think V.V. will try that again. He's just been a bit emotional lately because I wouldn't let him bring this Rolo kid into the Cult." The green-haired witch noted as she recalled how her subordinate has been lately. "Actually, I didn't give him permission to adopt a lot of kids lately. I think he has a fondness for kids. I even saw him playing with your children. For some reason, he seems to want Rolo in the Cult a lot. If I give him permission, maybe that will calm him down a bit. So, what exactly happened between you and V.V.?"

Marianne explained the meeting between V.V. and her, starting from when V.V. called her and ending to when she was knocked out by the flying gun. "That's about it. I'm just glad no one witness any of that."

Just as the words left her mouth, a young pink-haired girl in a red dress came out of hiding and went towards the two women. "Are you alright, Lady Marianne? I saw everything but was too afraid to-"

"GAACCKKK!" Marianne screamed while accidentally activating her Geass. Staring directly at Anya Earlstreim. The two women completely froze as they stared at one another. The pink-haired and the raven-haired women both fainted.

C.C. sat on the steps and wrapped her arms around her legs as she awaited patiently. The young pink-haired girl began to stir. "Marianne?"

"Yes?" The young girl answered. She realized the change in her voice and looked on the ground, seeing her own body lying there. "Well… this sucks. If Charles finds out that I did this… there's no way that he'll agree to work with me. Alright, here's the story, the gun was loaded, V.V. fired it while I was turned, and then he set everything else up with his accomplices. Let's go work on a script that makes V.V. look evil so we can tell that to Charles."

"What accomplices!? If V.V. used his connection to the Britannian Empire, he would have to go through Charles. If V.V. used his Cult connections, he would have had to go through me. I'm getting really tired of getting dragged into these situations. The only reason I agreed to this was because you were my partner, but you don't seem to be at any hurry to fulfill the contract. In fact, now that you no longer have Geass, I can only see the years of my life that I wasted doing things like this." C.C. said before heading for the exit.

"Come on, C.C.! I need your help to kill this body!" Despite the woman's pleas, the witch continued to move towards her exit. "Alright, fine. If you help me this once, I promise to not force you to get involved in anything regarding Charles and V.V. that you don't want to be involved in. You can even leave if you really want to. Does that sound like a deal?"

The immortal halted and then slowly moved back to the temptress. "Alright, fine, but I'm only doing this once and you better keep your promise."

* * *

"-women are all evil. They should die." The pink-haired girl thought out loud as she looked at the paper in front of her and nibbled thoughtfully on her pen. "Does that sound V.V.-esque to you?"

"No, V.V. would try to make it sound more… ancient-y." The green-haired witch replied.

"Well, I can't read your mind! You're the one that spends all day with V.V. at the Cult." Marianne looked at her accomplice. "You basically wrote everything else in the script."

"Alright, how about this." C.C. took the pen from the now smaller girl's hand and began to write.

"Ever since the time of legends, it has always been the woman who misleads the man." Marianne read. "Not… now let's say that I had to turn my back on him for a reason and then he surprised me and shot me from behind while I wasn't looking."

"It's almost morning soon… if you're going to kill your body, then you need to do it quickly. Can I go now?" C.C. asked impatiently. However, the sound of footsteps from outside stopped the witch that lacked patience from leaving.

"Lady Marianne! It was you who killed her, wasn't it! I never trusted you since you became a guard." After a brief moment of thought, the pizza lover concluded that there were two guards outside.

"My loyalty to Marianne surpasses all others! The first to point the finger is the guilty one." The sound of guns being drawn quickly followed the words and two shots sang out in the night. One body toppled, followed by another. C.C. opened the door and peeked outside.

"They're dead." C.C. then proceeded to leave. She turned back to Marianne. "Well, I'll be going now. Have fun making this look like a terrorist attack organized by V.V. I think your kids are about to wake up."

With that, the green witch left and headed for the Cult.

* * *

The smell of tomatoes, baking dough, cheese, and grease filled the air in the Britannian fast-food restaurant. It's late at night and two figures were the lone customers, but eating enough pizza to match the money made during prime selling times.

The two pizzaholics seemed to be siblings or an extremely underage mother with her child. The female wore a grey business-like jacket with a matching grey skirt and she carried a suitcase with her. The male, on the other hand, was covered by a cape and what little of his clothes are revealed seemed to be regal. A nearby employee glanced at the boy and tried to figure out which superhero he was trying to cosplay, but gave up and went back to work.

"So… is there any particular reason that you invited me out here to Pizza Hut?" C.C. looked at her subordinate as she ate another pizza and ordered another one, on V.V.'s tab, of course.

"I've heard that you were planning on leaving, so this is just my way of saying goodbye." V.V. replied and the green witch ordered a drink to quench her thirst. The blond haired boy decided to follow her example and ordered some orange juice to go along with his pizza.

"Where did you hear that? I only told some of my advisors."

"Some of your advisors complained that I was the one that's driving you away." The two sat silently eating their pizza before V.V. looked at his superior with sad eyes. "That's not true… is it?"

"You seem awfully concerned." C.C. said nonchalantly. "I'd think that you'd be happy that I'm leaving. That means you'll take over the Cult. Besides, Marianne always remarked about how the two of us always seemed to be at each others throats."

"Isn't that what friends do? Look, I'm sorry for all the names I called you… like Pizzamania, Mistress Pizzaphile, Pizzabutt and anything else that gave you the impression that I hated you. Charles has changed since Marianne came in and I feel like you're the only person I can be myself around now." V.V. said sadly while munching his pizza.

C.C. stared at V.V. in disbelief for a few moments and then stared at his drink, making sure that it wasn't alcoholic. She looked at her pizza and drink as well to check if she was intoxicated in any way and V.V.'s speech was just a hallucination.

After being satisfied with the fact that both of them were in their right minds and C.C. pinched herself to make sure it wasn't a dream, she tried to comfort the blond boy. "Well, I noticed that Marianne's changed a bit as well."

"I feel like a third wheel and a burden instead of an older brother." V.V. sighed as he downed the remains of his drink and ordered a refill. C.C. watched the defeated figure of the neglected child munching onto pizza with the side of his head on the table and one arm limply resting on the table as if it was the only thing that he had left in his life.

"Well, you can come with me to China if you want…" C.C. offered, unsure if this would do anything to cheer up the sulking boy. V.V. slowly regained his composure and sat back up before proceeding to munch on his pizza.

"Thanks for the offer, but someone needs to take care of the Cult. Besides, I still have to make sure that my contract with Charles is fulfilled." V.V. sighed as he sipped his drink. "If it wasn't for that, I'd probably take you up on that offer. I've been feeling kind of useless lately. By the way, how long are you planning to be gone? Or are you leaving permanently?"

"Well, Marianne basically made the decision for the both of us when we agreed to you and Charles's plight. Now that Marianne's dead, my contract with her can't keep me here anymore." Hearing this, V.V. spat out his drink back into the cup. He quickly ordered a new one. "Oh, sorry, were you unaware that Marianne died?"

"What was the cause… of her death?" V.V. asked hesitantly, fearing that him tossing the gun actually managed to kill the famous Knightmare pilot. His teeth sank into a fresh slice of pizza, but the blond immortal couldn't seem to force himself to rip it apart from the rest of the pizza and proceed with the chewing phase.

A brief silence filled the room as the witch stared at the child blankly. "Terrorist shooting." C.C. answered simply and then decided to change the subject. "How have things been since you became the head of research at the Cult?"

"Well, since you gave me permission to get Rolo in, he's been doing pretty well." V.V.'s mouth began to perform its survival function again as he ate. After swallowing, the younger immortal continued. "His Geass freezes people around him, although there's a time limit. I learned that the hard way when I got him to accompany me on a mission to steal the Happy Meal toys from Burger Emperor. Anyways, we were forced to do dishes because of that and when the police got involved, Charles pretended to be our parents to erase everyone's memories."

C.C., after taking a moment to absorb V.V.'s story, decided to ask him something that's been at the edge of her mind while she still had the chance. "V.V., why do you keep giving Geass to abandoned orphans? At first, I thought it was because you were just clueless to the destiny of those that have the Power of the King and thinks that it would help them. However, that seems unlikely now and you seem to know about the fate that's tied with the Geass as well as I do."

"The orphans had no future, due to the lies of the world. Even if it's just for a fleeting moment… even if their future is one of solitude, I wanted to grant them a bit of happiness in the present. Besides, I'll make sure that Ragnarok is complete before their fate catches up to them."

"Sending them to off to assassinate targets doesn't seem like a great way of making them happy. Wouldn't it be better to just take them in without giving them Geass?" C.C. mentioned to offhandedly after finishing her pizza. It seemed that all of the employees were preoccupied when C.C. looked around to order a new one. V.V, seeing C.C.'s lack of pizza, gave her his untouched slices.

C.C. happily accepted the silent transaction. "It depends on their Geass, not all of them are assassins. It's useful for funding the Cult, since we were kind of in a financial crisis. Getting money from the Britannian Empire has a certain risk involved and may endanger the operation. I prefer to not show favouritism by giving some kids Geass but not doing that for others. I need the Cult to be united."

"I haven't even left yet and you're already talking like a leader."

"Excuse me, but it's closing time now." A waitress came to clear the tables just as C.C. finished the last pizza. V.V. paid for the pizza. The tip was what someone would usually pay after a large party was held at the most expensive restaurant with all-night entertainment hired. The actual cost of their meal cannot be answered with sheer numbers.

The waitress, after having served the two pizza lovers for hours, was vastly rewarded for her efforts. With a spring in her steps, she left the two customers alone to get ready to go home and safely deposit the money.

The two immortals left the restaurant together and headed towards different directions. They stopped and turned towards each other. A silent transfer took place as they stared into each other's eyes.

"I guess this is goodbye then." C.C. just nodded in agreement at V.V.'s statement. "You're going to China, right? After I finish my business here and return to the Cult, I can search for any nearby places for you."

"No, that's fine. I'd prefer to cut off any ties with Britannia and the Cult to restart. I'll be going to Japan first and then find a plane to China. You know, if you want to come with me, now's the time."

"Tempting, but I've got responsibilities I must oversee. I've put my future on the line and accepted immortality to see Ragnarok through. I can't turn back now." With that said, the two immortal turned, so that their backs faced each other."

"Well, this is it. It's been fun, V.V. We may not be connected by blood, but we are connected by our fates. I don't know what a true sibling should be like, but I imagine that you were like a younger brother to me." C.C. said softly into the darkness, not looking at V.V.

"That feels reassuring, having an older sister to watch over me. Well, if either of our contracts are fulfilled, we won't have an eternity to meet each other again. Good luck, C.C." With that said, both immortals moved off in separate directions, intently set on the different paths that awaited them.

Neither of the two immortals looked back, in fear that it may distort the different paths that they chose and change their minds. When both immortals were far away from each other, they looked behind them to see only nothingness. Satisfied that the only path that awaited them was forward, the two immortals turned and continued towards their future.

* * *

Two looming figures stood over a cliff staring at a large gathering of a group of children.

"What brings you here, brother?" The blond-haired child asked the Emperor of Britannia.

"There are new complications in Ragnarok that we need to work out together." Charles replied.

"Ragnarok Online? You haven't been playing that lately. My assassin almost has enough levels to become an assassin cross, but I was PK-ed yesterday by some green-haired dancer since your crusader wasn't there as a meat shield to help take hits." V.V. said. "If you don't log on soon, your character might get purged from the database."

"What the hell-!? No, no. I'm not talking about that!" Charles coughed and regained composure after V.V.'s unexpected reply. "I'm talking about the Ragnarok Connection… contract… kill gods, that one. Not the game."

"Well, you kind of seemed to lose interest in that as well, probably more than the game." V.V. sighed outwardly as he continued to stare at the Geass-gifted children. "You've stopped replying to most of the letters I sent you regarding the progress in the Cult and you even stopped showing up for our daily meetings inside the Sword of Akasha for brotherly bonding."

Charles, realizing all the obligations to V.V. he failed to fulfil, momentarily forgot about his main objective in meeting V.V. to try and comfort his brother. "Well, things have been busy lately. Besides, you know how I am with papers filled with nothing but words. Marianne had all these events planned out during those times and I totally forgot. Is there anything you want me to do for you?"

"No, that's fine. I don't want to impose on _your life_." V.V. emphasized the last two words, stressing the fact that he no longer had a part in Charles's life as his brother. "As long as you remember our contract, everything will be fine. By the way, what were the complications you came here to talk about?"

"Oh, right." Charles turned to face his brother, but the boy was crouching to get a better look at the children beneath them. V.V.'s eyes were completely unfocussed on Charles. "Our numbers have dropped by one, Marianne is dead."

Charles watched V.V. for a reaction, but V.V.'s composure didn't change in the least. From the blank look on his face, Charles had to wonder if V.V. heard him at all. After a moment of silence, V.V. seemed to have finished processing the message and was able to come up with a reply.

"I've heard. I'm sorry to hear that." Charles tensed his muscles, remembering what Marianne told him prior to confronting V.V. Is his brother lying to him? Well, Marianne certainly wasn't in her body anymore and the machine gun had V.V.'s fingerprints on it… but V.V. seemed strangely innocent. Charles needed to pry deeper into the matter.

"It was a terrorist shooting. The culprits haven't been caught yet. Nunnally witnessed the murder and Lelouch was at the crime scene. I sent them to Japan for their own safety and in case they may one day get closer to the truth." Charles felt his head throb a bit when he remembered Lelouch's temper tantrum.

"Seeing as you didn't reply when I sent you the letter, I'm assuming you don't know, but C.C.'s gone too. She left the Cult a week ago." V.V. continued to not meet Charles's eye contact. "The leadership position's been handed to me."

"C.C.'s gone? Why didn't you stop her!? We need both Codes to ensure absolute success for the Ragnarok." Charles only came here to confront V.V. about Marianne's death, he did not need more stress like this added onto him. "Why didn't you tell me about this!?"

"When I became aware of that, it was already far too late to change anything." V.V. replied. Technically, it wasn't lying since C.C. already had her mind set when V.V. confronted her. "I've included that in the documents and waited for you in the Sword of Akasha all day after C.C. left. I can't just waltz into the Britannian Palace whenever I like, teleporting abilities or not."

The two siblings stopped conversing and just stared around them. "It looks like we're back where we began." Charles remarked.

"Fitting, since I'm about to transcend to Assassin Cross on Ragnarok Online. Although it seems like you've stopped playing and lost interest. Tell me, Charles, do you have any regrets? We planned to transcend and be reborn together." V.V. said wistfully.

"Are we talking about the game or the contract?" Charles needed time to think and V.V.'s question completely caught him off guard.

"You seemed dedicated enough when we first made our pact. However, since Marianne came, you seemed to have dropped contact. You're the Emperor of Britannia, Charles. You choose by your own interests. Will you rid the world of lies or are you satisfied with what we have now?" V.V. turned and finally made eye contact with Charles.

Charles stared at his brother's eyes, trying to find any hint of emotions that led him to kill Marianne. However, his eyes now seemed completely set on their goal and their contract. Charles now realized that their time apart has changed them both. Charles was changed by his time with Marianne, but he didn't know what caused V.V. to change.

Charles felt saddened by the fact that he grew so distant from the brother he loved. As the way things are now, perhaps people aren't meant to understand each other. However, if they slew god, then he can understand his brother again.

Charles looked at V.V. and his mind was made up. He wanted a world where no one would have to hide who they truly were and everyone could see the truth.

"No, this world needs to be changed." Charles answered and he took off one of the gloves on his hand. V.V. just stared at his sibling's actions before smirking.

"That again?"

"To renew our contract." V.V. took off one of his gloves as well to reveal a red sigil shaped like a V. The two of them put their palms together. "In this world full of lies…"

"…we shall move forward and not lie together." Charles completed for his brother before continuing. "Then, together we shall…"

"SLAY THE GODS!" The two finished simultaneously. After a brief moment, as if letting the words sink in, the two disconnected their hands.

"Are you going back now, Charles?"

"Yeah, Bismarck will be picking me up soon." Charles turned and smiled. It was strange, he should be more mad about what happened to Marianne, but he doesn't care as much as he thought he should. Marianne, C.C., himself and his brother have all suffered due to the masks of the worlds.

"By the way, I just talked to Bismarck last week and turns out that he plays Ragnarok Online as well. I played during the last few days and managed to get to level sixty with his help. What level are you right now?"

"Sixty-five. I was always a few levels higher than you when we started." V.V. left as well. "I guess I'll be seeing you tonight."

"Yes, I guess you will. Perhaps it was meant to be the two of us from the beginning." Charles walked away. Marianne may still be alive, but the reality was, she was useless in her current state. No matter how much things changed, Charles knew that V.V. would still be there waiting for him.

* * *

End Note:

You can probably tell from all the tension shifts that I wrote this with long breaks in between x.X. Anyways, I'm no longer sure this can classify as a humor fic or not. This took me weeks to write due to an advanced form of procrastination perfected by me. I guess the sudden mood shifts fit the atmosphere of Code Geass… in a twisted way. Anyways, read and review!


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